g up suddenly and kissing DELIA again). I simply must
have another one. And to think that you're never going back to school
any more. (Looking at her fondly) Darling, you _are_ looking pretty.

DELIA. Am I?

BELINDA. Lovely. (Going back to her seat) And now you're going to stay
with me for just as long as you want a mother. (Anxiously) Darling, you
didn't mind being sent away to school, did you? It _is_ the usual thing,
you know.

DELIA. Silly mother! of course it is.

BELINDA (relieved). I'm so glad you think so too.

DELIA. Have you been very lonely without me?

BELINDA. Very.

DELIA (holding up a finger). The truth, mummy!

BELINDA. I've missed you horribly, Delia. (Primly.) The absence of
female companionship of the requisite--

DELIA. Are you really all alone?

BELINDA (smiling mysteriously). Well, not always, of course.

DELIA (excitedly, at she slips off the table). Mummy, I believe you're
being bad again.

BELINDA. Really, darling, you forget that I'm old enough to be--in fact,
am--your mother.

DELIA (nodding her head). You are being bad.

BELINDA (rising with dignity and drawing herself up to her full height).
My child, that is not the way to--Oh, I say, what a lot taller I am than
you!

DELIA. And prettier.

BELINDA (fluttering her eyelids). Oh, do you think so? (Firmly) Don't be
silly, child.

DELIA (holding up a finger). Now tell me all that's been happening here
at once.

BELINDA (with a sigh). And I was just going to ask you how you were
getting on with your French.

DELIA. Bother French! You've been having a much more interesting time
than I have, so you've got to tell.

BELINDA (with a happy sigh). O-oh! (She sinks back into her chair.)

DELIA. Is it like the Count at Scarborough?

BELINDA (surprised and pained). My darling, what _do_ you mean?

DELIA. Don't you remember the Count who kept proposing to you at
Scarborough? I do.

BELINDA (reproachfully). Dear one, you were the merest child, paddling
about on the beach and digging castles.

DELIA (smiling to herself). I was old enough to notice the Count.

BELINDA (sadly). And I'd bought her a perfectly new spade! How one
deceives oneself!

DELIA. And then there was the M.P. who proposed at Windermere.

BELINDA. Yes, dear, but it wasn't seconded--I mean he never got very far
with it.

DELIA. And the artist in Wales.

BELINDA. Darling child, what a memory you have. No wonder your teachers
are pleased with you.

D